The jagged hills hold back the horizon. Jet fighters outlined in the sky. All is dust. Temperatures well over 100. I descend from the sky into a town a have come to love. Stepping in the space between the airplane and jetway I am assaulted with the heat. I breath deep. My pores open. We navigate to the hotel. I recommended my local favorite - which happens to be almost 100 years old with a lot of history. We check in, collect our brass keys and meet Tiger, the bartender in the Tap Room.
Later in my room, I'm finishing up the collage. I have looked through these pictures for hours the past two weeks. Meeting a different side of my aunt - who was like another grandparent to me.
Chapel Service. White marble mausoleum. The sound of birds chirping in the heat. The priest arrives, dons his white robes. His sunglasses left laying on the altar. Candles are lit. I sweep my eyes across the lawn of green dotted by brown stone and colorful vases. I pause upon the names. I quietly consider some for my screenplay characters, names from a different era.
A bird flys in, swooping low and then up. It's then I notice the tiny bird screeching. There's a nest of baby birds in the (open air yet shaded) chapel. I see their triangle beaks opening and closing as momma bird returns to feed them.
It's a solemn moment. The music stops, the service begins. So many metaphysical thoughts. Conflicting philosophies. Beliefs. Yet all exist simultaneously. I look at the faces of those around me. I surprisingly recognize many from the pictures I have studied. I'm happy to know so many of them have pictures in the collage.
The ceremony closes. We say our last goodbyes. Beliefs thick in the hot air. We have our final celebrations. Return to our air conditioned cars, then the airport. The runway blurs under acceleration. The lift. Off the wing, a full moon rises in the desert dusk. Pale ivory in the pastel sky. (Nothing can compare to a full desert moon rising in the dusk.) Jagged desert mountain ranges silhouetted in the falling light.
The desert has recieved her and shines bright on a full life.
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